The prime minister said on Tuesday he had nothing to fear from judicial inquiries during his time as mayor of Lisbon, emphasizing that his minister Fernando Medina is not accused, but “if he is, he will be”.
This point of view was expressed by António Costa at the end of a session on the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) in Carnaxide, municipality of Oeiras, regarding the construction of new housing.
Asked about the situation of the Minister of Finance, Mayor of Lisbon between 2015 and 2021, after the searches carried out in this municipality with a focus on the Municipal Works Department, the leader of the executive said he was not aware of any involvement of the Minister of Finance in “no searches”.
“I know, because I read in the newspapers that there was a series of searches at the Lisbon City Council, I see that the Attorney General’s Office issued a statement saying that there were three defendants and three defendant companies. I knows that the Finance Minister is not accused, nor was he even heard in this trial – and if he is, he will be. No one is above the law”replied the prime minister.
When asked if he fears that the investigations extend to the period when he was mayor of Lisbon (2007/2015), António Costa immediately replied: “No, I’m not afraid of anything”.
“I was mayor of Lisbon for eight years, I entered, washed and left with an absolutely clear conscience. If there is any investigation to be done, let it be done. I fear absolutely nothing”, he said, then stressed that the municipal councils are the entities “more uniformed and where there is more oversight”.
Costa “surprised” by Pedro Nuno Santos revelation
The prime minister also said he was just as surprised “as” former minister Pedro Nuno Santos when he revealed he had finally authorized TAP to pay damages to former secretary of state Alexandra Reis.
António Costa defended the claim that, in this case, with regard to the compensation that former Secretary of State Alexandra Reis received of half a million euros, the Ministry of Finance was not aware.
When asked about the fact that the former infrastructure minister now assumes that he knew about this fee and has also authorized it, the leader of the executive says he is “just as surprised as – I believe – himself”.
“In the communiqué he released, he himself was surprised to find out that he had known and given permission after all,” he said, before attempting to remove the Treasury Department from this release.
“We all know the Treasury didn’t know, it’s a point it doesn’t make sense to insist on. The Ministry of Infrastructure has already said it has not communicated with the Ministry of Finance, TAP has already said that it communicated not with the Ministry of Finance, assuming that the Ministry of Infrastructure would communicate, and the then Minister of Finance, Professor João Leão, has already said publicly that he did not know,” emphasized António Costa.
Source: DN
